Former Golden State coach doesn't believe 'this team will be together next year,' and that Kevin Durant holds the key

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Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30) and former Warriors head coach Mark Jackson talk before the game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Jan. 9, 2015. Jackson was in town to broadcast the Warriors and Cleveland game for ESPN and it was his first time back since being let go by the Warriors last season. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

Golden State Warriors’ Festus Ezeli (31) greets former Warriors head coach Mark Jackson before the game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Jan. 9, 2015. Jackson was in town to broadcast the Warriors and Cleveland game for ESPN and it was his first time back since being let go by the Warriors last season. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

Former Golden State Warriors head coach Mark Jackson, left, and ESPN broadcaster Jeff Van Gundy talk each other before the game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Jan. 9, 2015. Jackson broadcasted the Warriors and Cleveland game for ESPN as it was his first time back since being let go by the Warriors last season. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

Golden State Warriors’ head coach Mark Jackson smiles with Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30) against the Denver Nuggets in the fourth quarter of Game 4 of their first-round NBA basketball playoff series on Sunday, April 28, 2013, in Oakland, Calif. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

Former Golden State Warriors head coach Mark Jackson acknowledges the fans during the first half of the game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Jan. 9, 2015. Jackson was in town to broadcast the Warriors and Cleveland game for ESPN and it was his first time back since being let go by the Warriors last season. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

Former San Francisco 49ers coach Steve Mariucci, second from left, and former Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson, right, visit with friends before the start of the Warriors vs Cleveland Cavaliers Game 2 of the NBA Finals at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Sunday, June 7, 2015. (Susan Tripp Pollard/Bay Area News Group)

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There is a lotta, lotta, lotta, lotta noise surrounding the Warriors these days. Free agent-to-be Kevin Durant is rumored to be joining every outfit this side of the Swiss Guard. Klay Thompson will/won’t get the max deal to which he is entitled. The indispensable Andre Iguodala seems amenable to returning for a 16th NBA season, but he cautions that “it’s got to be worth my time.”

Kevon Looney? DeMarcus Cousins? Shaun Livingston? Flip a coin.

Maybe it’s the team’s impending move from Oracle Arena, but there is a vague feeling that something wonderful is ending.

How is a partisan supposed to navigate the landscape of fly-by-night would-be bombshells?

Consider the source. Give weight to someone who has unique knowledge of the situation, someone who isn’t just trying to make a name for himself, someone who gives it to you straight.

Oh, look — there’s Mark Jackson.

Jackson played 17 years in the NBA. He was the Warriors coach for the three seasons leading up to the current championship dynasty. He has kept close to the game as a broadcast analyst. His is a voice you can trust. But we will warn you, you may not like the message he imparted on a recent phoner to Stephen A. Smith.

Smith asked Jackson if he thought next year’s Warriors would look like this year’s Warriors. Jackson didn’t hold back.

“I think you have free agency for a reason,” said Jackson, who availed himself of free agency as a player. “I do not think this team will be together next year.”

Free agency isn’t the only catalyst that could potentially break up the band.

“I don’t think the fun is as much as it’s been in the past,” Jackson said. “So I think it’ll be a different-looking team next year. And I think Kevin Durant is the guy who holds the key. And then, when it comes time for free agency, if you’re the Golden State Warriors, you do not mess with Klay Thompson. As soon as possible you put an offer, a max deal on the table for Klay Thompson because he is absolutely essential to your success and what he’s done for that franchise from Day 1.

Gary Peterson is a sports writer for the Bay Area News Group. His prior assignments included 31 years as a sports columnist, serving as a general assignment news reporter, covering courts and writing a metro column before finding his way back to sports.